So... the last thing on your mind is regaining weight - why? Well you're thrilled as punch, you've been on diet, you've been 'really good, 'the scale is your friend, and you've lost some weight, you're feeling great. You know what I mean?
Then to your horror the dress size you dropped starts to find you again. Does this sound familiar? If it does...there's some consolation: you're not alone - weight cycling is common, common,common. (Yeah, I know it really isn't much of a consolation is it?)
I used to think it was just that my fat and I were such good friends that we couldn't bear to be parted from me for long! The same applies to Oprah Winfrey and she's got her own chef personal trainer and more. Her weight has yo-yo'ed between 150 pounds (she achieved this fter losing 67 pounds after eating no solid food for several months) and 237 pounds. In 2006, during a thin cycle, she weighed 160; in 2009 she was back at 200 pounds.
But this really is the same old, same old pattern dieters all over the world experience. Seriously, though, once you know the why you're regaining weight - you'll know why I'd like you to ditch diets and live light!
Now before you read any further, firstclick here to see how diets manage to mess with your metabolism because that'll give you really good reason never to diet again.
Reasons for weight gain
Well ...along comes life: your cat gets run over, you catch your child taking drugs or your husband having an affair, your best friend gets cancer or whatever. Next think you know, you're a-heading for the fridge. This is where simply focussing on getting thin and losing weight quickly really lets you down.
and habits, or had the personal growth, you turn to your old crutch:
emotional eating.
Now stop a moment and picture this. When a
diet fails you
(and they all do because they are unnatural and unsustainable from the outset), what are all the things you find yourself binge-eating?
All those 'diet foods' or so-called 'good foods' like carrots? Lettuce? Brocolli? Not a chance!
Naturally you gravitate towards all the so-called 'bad foods' - the stuff not on your eating guidelines of diet foods. Donuts, chocolate, candy, cookies and so on. Hello... this is the start of weight cycling.
And what do they all have in common? They're high in sugar, high in fat and high in calories. And don't think this is
where it all ends. Nope! There's more bad news to come!
Now for the weight regain
And if you're anything like I was, well you're doomed. When my only focus was getting thin, I had very black and white thinking. This is not good thinking when it comes to regaining weight.
When I was good, I was very very good at sticking to my diet. But when I was bad, I was stuffing my face. But the problem was my black and white thinking and going on restrictive diets.
All I had to do was break even one dietary rule to get what I call the "what the heck syndrome". What the heck, I've blown it - I may as well do a really good job. I already knew I was going to feel guilty, so I might as well just do a really good job of it.
So I'd go from 800 calories of diet food to 8000 calories of junk foods overnight.
And here's what those weight loss schemes don't tell you. Combine high calorie foods in large quantities with a body which has a
now-slowed basal metabolic rate
(that's your basic rate of metabolism - how much energy your body utilizes for basic body functions like breathing, moving, digestion, excretion and so on) and viola! you have a simply magic recipe for regaining fat. And ...what we regain is FAT.
To use our complimentary % body fat calculator click here
You see your body doesn't say: "Oh, whew ok, he/she's started eating now, lets just instantly reverse that water weight loss and muscle loss and let's get this metabolism fired up again."
No - it's in your bid to lose weight quickly, your metabolism has slowed down and that can't be changed in a jiffy.
Retarded basal metabolism + over-eating high calorie foods = a swift regaining weight.
Didn't I say I was going to give you fabulous health reasons to ditch diets and live light? You can't argue with your body - it knows what is natural health and what isn't!
If you find the ditch-diets-live-light website useful, please recommend it to your friends.
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I am a university-bound teenager from the United States. Two years ago I was diagnosed with anorexia, a battle that eventually found me in the hospital.Dieting has robbed me of too much time. I found this website by chance. I've spent a lot of time browsing through articles and reading stories. It has changed my attitude and made me want to be MY ideal weight, not someone else's. Thank you to all the contributors and readers of Mind over Fatter. I deeply appreciate everything you do.(abridged by Cari) Zoe - United States
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